After four years in operation, Restaurant IPO at 421 N. Third St. downtown has ended its lunch and dinner business. However, the establishment, which has a second-floor private event space, will continue to be available for private parties and banquets.
Owner Eric Macicek and chef Scott Varnedoe had been mulling a possible closure for several months, Varnedoe says. They say the recent string of events this summer—protests related to the Alton Sterling shooting, the August flood and a downtown curfew—pushed them over the edge.
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“We had a rough summer, and it was rough for everybody,” Varnedoe says. “Between riots and curfews and floods … we decided if we’re going to do this, now is the time to do it.”
Varnedoe says IPO’s restaurant business was too unpredictable and that it was too hard to adequately plan and staff for the variable crowds. IPO’s event business, on the other hand, has been a moneymaker.
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